E-W boys exceeding expectations

Edmonds-Woodway has surfaced as one of the surprise teams at the midway point of the boys basketball season.

The Warriors are exceeding everyone’s preseason expectations but their own with their sizzling 7-2 start in league play.

E-W begins the second half of the regular season in second place in the Western Conference 4A South Division, two-and-a-half games behind unbeaten Meadowdale.

The Warriors (9-2 overall) wrap up January against three opponents — Shorecrest, Lynnwood and Jackson — who are a combined 6-23 in league play.

“We weren’t one of the league favorites at the start of the season. We didn’t have any of that pressure,” E-W coach Rob McMains said after his team edged Shorewood 52-49 Jan. 16 on the road.

“Now we’ll get a little more focus. We’re just excited to be in the thick of this and have a shot at the playoffs.”

The Warriors extended their win streak to four and inched closer to securing a district tournament berth by clipping Kamiak 47-43 on its home court Tuesday night.

Senior center Jason Hopkins scored five of E-W’s final eight points, including the go-ahead basket with 46 seconds left in the game.

“Jason wants the ball when the game is on the line and he’s got a lot of confidence,” McMains said. “He’s a clutch player. I think the whole team is handling the pressure situations real well.

“Three out of our last four games have come down to basically the last minute — the last few seconds actually — and we’ve managed to pull each one of them out.”

From the start of the season, the Warriors were confident they were a playoff-caliber team.

“These kids from the beginning have expected to win and they had high expectations,” McMains said. “All of them have wanted and felt we could make a run at the playoffs and it’s just great for me to see it come to fruition. The kids are working hard in practice and they’re just kind of in a flow.”

Shorewood had won three straight going into last week’s back-and-forth matchup with E-W, but close games have been a sore spot for the Thunderbirds.

Rob Diederichs gave Shorewood a temporary 48-46 lead with 2:12 remaining by tipping in his own miss. But E-W’s Josh Griffin knotted the score with a baseline jumper and Huston Conti hit four free throws in the final minute to sink the T-birds.

Shorewood had a chance to tie the game in the last 35 seconds but Conti cut off an entry pass to the post. Three missed free throws in the final 1:35 and a blown dunk with three minutes to go also cost the T-birds, who fell to 0-4 in games decided by fewer than four points.

“We need to take better care of the ball in crunch time,” Shorewood coach Jeff Denny said. “We aren’t valuing each possession in the last four minutes. We’re taking some shots that would be OK early in the game, but not in the situations we’re finding ourselves in.”

The first half closed with a 3-point display, as the teams combined for six straight treys. Shorewood forward Michael Stiles drained the seventh 3-pointer of the half at the buzzer to make it 24-all at the break.

Blake Bernhard’s putback at the 3:50 mark of the fourth quarter put the T-birds in front 46-41, but Conti answered with one of E-W’s six 3-pointers.

Conti finished with a team-high 15 points and Griffin added 12 for E-W. Diederichs led all scorers with 18 points and Stiles chipped in 12.

“That was a great win on the road, in front of a big crowd,” McMains said. “This is what we’ve been working for. I couldn’t be more pleased with our poise and confidence down the stretch.”